walkingwithfandomcom-20200222-history
Tyrannosaurus/Generation 1
' Creature attributes Physical appearance and biology Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the largest terrestrial carnivores of all time, with a weight of 5 tons and a length of about 12-13 meters. However, it did not come close to the size of the earlier Giganotosaurus from South America.Chased by Dinosaurs: Land of Giants But T. rex had an advantage over Giganotosaurus: its bite. Its jaws alone were 1.2 meters long and 1 meter wide filled with teeth larger than a human hand. The teeth were used to grip prey, breaking bones, puncturing arteries, and rupturing many organs. Tyrannosaurus was unable to chew its food, so it had to swallow food whole, gulping 70kg (154 lb) of meat at a time. This could be very dangerous, though, as it could potentially choke to death. Also, Tyrannosaurus females were larger than the males and they could lay a maximum of 12 eggs. Behaviour and traits Tyrannosaurus was the apex predator of North America during the last days of the Late Cretaceous. It preyed on many of the herbivores in the area including Anatotitan, Triceratops, and Torosaurus. It had no predators, but the unborn would fall victim to air pollution from nearby volcanos that prevented their egg shells from forming correctly and nest raiders like Dromaeosaurus and the mammal Didelphodon. The only dinosaurs T. rex feared were the armored Ankylosaurus and other individuals that belonged to its own genus who were willing to commit cannibalism. Tyrannosaurus was also very aggressive and territorial with the females being the most aggressive.Walking with Dinosaurs: Death of a DynastyThe Complete Guide to Prehistoric LifeWalking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History Females would attract males by emitting loud calls, even calling for weeks for a male. The male respond to these calls by giving the female an animal carcass as a gift to appease her. If she liked the gift, the two would proceed to have a mating period that would last three days with the male being beside his mate at all times to prevent any other male Tyrannosaurus rex from mating with her. Afterward, the female Tyrannosaurus would detour the male and would lay her eggs in a mound shaped nest, much like modern crocodilians. During the incubation period, the Tyrannosaurus mother would guard their nests to prevent any nest raiders from eating their eggs, even to the point of denying themselves food just to make sure their nest was protected. But after their young were born Tyrannosaurus rex mothers would end their fasting period and would give the juveniles any remains left from their kills. The mother would still protect her chicks even if it killed her in the process. The young were able to to get their mother's attention by chirping. After about 3 months of care, she would either detour them from her care or consume them. Classification and ancestory Tyrannosaurus rex was closely related to the similar looking Tarbosaurus that roamed Mongolia. So close, that Tarbosaurus was basically the Asian equivalent of Tyrannosaurus. In Walking with Dinosaurs A Tyrannosaurus is seen roaring at the end of the show's intro. Death of a Dynasty A female Tyrannosaurus, (''The episode's focus) defends her nest one last time from a ''Didelphodon, before abandoning it because of the eggs inside having succumbed to the volcanic atmosphere. She then begins to make mating calls to attract any males in the area so she can start a new clutch of eggs, leaving her old nest to scavengers. Elsewhere, a male Tyrannosaurus scavenges the carcasses of dead animals that were killed by carbon monoxide released into the atmosphere by volcanic vents in the area. He nearly falls victim to the poisonous gasses being released into the atmosphere, but he manages to snatch a theropod carcass because his height keeps him above the layer of the carbon monoxide. Another male, possibly the same male who was scavenging, responds to the female Tyrannosaurus' calls by killing a Triceratops for her. She likes her gift and the two initiate the mating period. After mating, the female Tyrannosaurus scares off the male before she lays her eggs. While guarding her nest, she successfully detours a Dromaeosaurus who could have potentially eaten her eggs. Only 3 eggs hatched in the mother Tyrannosaurus' clutch of 12. When her chicks were a month old the female T. rex killed an Anatotitan at a river. She gave her young a leftover piece of her kill as food for them. While the juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex were eating, two of them abused their sibling severely. This chick disappears two days later, possibly having been killed by its older and more successful siblings. The remaining T. rex juveniles then began to explore the area around them while their mother rested, pestering a Dinilysia they found during their brief exploration. While her chicks were exploring the mother noticed an Ankylosaurus in her territory. Her young took refuge under a tree as she did her best to detour the intruding the Ankylosaurus by lunging very close to the herbivore. During one of her lunges, however, the Ankylosaurus swung its tail club successfully hitting her side, cracking one of her femurs and rupturing several internal organs in the process. The next morning she dies from her fatal injuries with her young waiting for her to wake her, not knowing her fate. Hours later the K-T Extinction occurs. The juvenile Tyrannosaurus first seen the bright light of the impact, seconds before a shock wave blows them away in a cloud of dust, killing them as well as their species. At the end of the credits the roar of Tyrannosaurus rex is played. In Walking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History Death of a Dynasty In Walking with Beasts New Dawn Stock footage of the fight between the Tyrannosaurus and the Ankylosaurus plays at the beginning of the episode. In Sea Monsters Tyrannosaurus rex is one of the creatures on Nigel Marven's Time map. To Hell... and Back? While Nigel Marven and his crew are in the Late Cretaceous, they see a Tyrannosaurus roaring near the land surrounding the ocean. Behind the scenes The Generation 1 Tyrannosaurus has multiple inaccuracies. First, like all theropods of that generation, the hands were never pronated. Second, Tyrannosaurus chicks wouldn't be 1 meter tall at only 1 month of age according to fossil juveniles of related genera. Third, the discovery might suggest that Tyrannosaurus had feathers rather than scales. Fourth, Tyrannosaurus' head wasn't as cubed and short like in Walking with Dinosaurs. Finally, many of the behaviors of the Tyrannosaurus in Generation 1 are highly speculative. The date in which Tyrannosaurus rex first evolved in Generation 1's timeline was retconned. In Death of a Dynasty, the narrator states that it evolved 68mya, but later installments stated that it first appeared before. Unlike what is shown in Sea Monsters and The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life, Tyrannosaurus never lived before 68mya. Though it was thought that T. rex lived from at least 70 to 65mya, recent evidence now suggests that it lived from 68 to 66mya. The Tyrannosaurus model and animatronic from Walking with Dinosaurs was reused in several other BBC productions outside of the Walking with... series. The animatronic head of Tyrannosaurus was used in the first episode of Dragons Alive, a documentary about living reptiles, in a brief segment about the reign of the dinosaurs and their extinction. The 3D model of G1 Tyrannosaurus appeared in the Horizon episode Extreme Dinosaurs, which was included as a special feature of the Chased by Dinosaurs DVD. List of appearences *''Walking with Dinosaurs'' **Death of a Dynasty *''Walking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History'' **Death of a Dynasty *''Dinosaur Bones'' *''Dinosaur Memory Game'' *''Walking with Beasts'' **New Dawn *''Sea Monsters'' **To Hell... and Back? *''Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Predators of the Deep'' (Time map) *''Sea Monsters Adventure Game'' *''The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life'' Notes and references